4. The eightfold path: organizing the elements

‘The eightfold path: organizing the elements’ explains the history and rationale of the Periodic Table. Atomic theory was not fully accepted until Jean Perrin proved the existence of atoms in 1908. Rutherford et al went further, elucidating subatomic particles. This provided new insights into the Periodic Table, created decades earlier by Mendeleyev. Mendeleyev was not the first to attempt to group the elements. However, an improved set of atomic weights published in 1860 caused an upsurge in research. Mendeleyev's Table showed the order underlying the elements, left gaps for new elements, and questioned irreconcilable data. This data was eventually reconciled partly by Rutherford, and partly by Bohr's application of quantum theory.

7. For all practical purposes: technologies of the elements

‘For all practical purposes: technologies of the elements’ considers the variety that exists within the elements, and how they can be applied to our everyday lives. Iron and steel gave early armies the edge in battle, but the role of carbon in steel production was not understood until the eighteenth century. Silicon was used in glass for centuries, but its semiconducting properties make it the ideal substance for computer chips. The platinum group metals were unsuccessfully marketed as alternatives to silver, but now they are integral in catalytic converters. Palladium gained notoriety as a key ingredient of ‘cold fusion’, and rare earth metals are used in television screens.

5. The atom factories: making new elements

‘The atom factories: making new elements’ explores the synthesis of new elements. The transmutation of new elements is only possible due to radioactivity. Rutherford discovered that bombarding nuclei with protons caused nuclear decay, and Fermi realised that neutron bombardment could create transuranic elements. Both processes released vast amounts of energy, harnessed by the United States in World War II. As well as being broken apart, nuclei can also be fused into heavier nuclei. This releases even more energy. This process occurs in the Sun, but is much harder to perform on Earth. As heavier and heavier elements have been found, arguments have raged about priority and naming rights.

3. Gold: the glorious and accursed element

‘Gold: the glorious and accursed element’ explores the allure of gold. Gold has dominated men's hearts throughout the ages. It is not a very useful metal, but it is prized for its beauty and unreactivity. It can be mined from lodes or riverbeds, and most modern gold is from South Africa. Gold was traditionally purified via cupellation, but newer techniques such as cyanidation exist, and bacterial or plant based extraction is now possible. Alchemists sought to create gold from other metals, but this was chemically impossible. Gold was extremely useful in establishing trade and money, and was the bedrock of early global financial systems.

1. Aristotle's quartet: the elements in antiquity

‘Aristotle's quartet: the elements in antiquity’ outlines how the study of elements progressed from ancient Greece to the seventeenth century. The Aristotelian system of elements claimed that there were four types of matter — earth, wind, fire, and water. After the Dark Ages the medieval Western world held classical science in reverent awe, and differing views were treated as heretical. However, in this system metals were treated as ‘earth’. Alchemy provided a means of investigating metals, concentrating on turning metal into gold. By the end of the seventeenth century Aristotle's ideas were losing traction, and the work of Robert Boyle and John Dalton changed alchemy into chymistry, then into modern chemistry.

6. The chemical brothers: why isotopes are useful

‘The chemical brothers: why isotopes are useful’ explains the chemistry and application of isotopes. The arrangement of isotopes in the Periodic Table by weight did not always make sense, until Francis Aston discovered the presence of isotopes: chemically identical atoms which differ only in atomic weight due to differing numbers of neutrons. Radioactive isotopes differ in the stability of their nuclei. Measuring the speed of decay allows scientists to date archaeological finds, and even the universe itself. Stable isotopes can be used to give a record of climate change. Isotopes are also commonly used in medical imaging and cancer treatment.

2. Revolution: how oxygen changed the world

‘Revolution: how oxygen changed the world’ charts the discovery of oxygen. Antoine Lavoisier found that water and air were not actually elements, and in the process discovered oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. Lavoisier's work ushered in an age of ‘pneumatick chemistry’ — the study of gases. This new science was still prejudiced by classical ideas. For instance, contemporary thinkers thought that a substance called phlogiston existed, and was the essence of flammability. Lavoisier determined that burning did not release phlogiston into the air, but actually removed oxygen. One could think that atmospheric oxygen exists to give us life, but it was in fact life that gave the world oxygen, through biological processes.